Corvette Racing At The Glen: Garcia And Sims Score 2nd Podium Finish For Z06 GT3.R

When we last left off, the battles within the IMSA series were intensifying, as Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports tried to capitalize off the positives from Detroit’s street battle earlier this month. Now, the three Z06 GT3.Rs fighting it out in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship headed off to Watkins Glen, NY, on Sunday for the Six Hours of The Glen.

In today’s Corvette Racing Recap, we’ll give you a quick recap of the race with notable highlights, share the always-interesting driver quotes, celebrate some of the recent Corvette Racing milestones, and show you a few of our favorite photos from the busy weekend! Let’s get after it!

Meet The IMSA Teams And Drivers

♦ GTD PRO: Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports

The No. 3: Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims
The No. 4: Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg

♦ GTD: AWA

The No. 13: Matt Bell, Orey Fidani and Lars Kern
The No. 17: The No. 17 owner, Anthony Mantella, quits after just two races; more details here.

Race Summary:

The No. 3 of Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims scored the season’s second podium finish for the Z06 GT3.R, with a remarkable third-place finish. While the lottery went the way of Garcia and Sims in the last hour, the racing gods had a different plan for Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg in the No. 4 Z06 GT3.R. While in the lead on the final lap, the duo had to pit for a fuel splash, and ended up sixth in the final GTD PRO standings. It was the first podium finish for the Garcia/Sims duo, following a similar finish for the No. 4 Corvette at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

In GTD, AWA’s No 13 Z06 GT3.R of Matt Bell, Orey Fidani, and Lars Kern faced a similarly tumultuous race and finished 13th in class. The trio battled from deep in the field, and despite briefly running in the top five, their Z06 GT3.R was caught out on track in a heavy downpour on slick tires and went off-track. However, the trio’s result did unofficially grow Fidani’s lead in the Bob Akin Award standings, which goes to the highest point-scoring Bronze driver in GTD.

In a race heavily impacted by rain, the No. 3 Z06 GT.3 ran up front in GTD PRO but dropped back following an early-race brake change. Despite this setback, the No. 3 still managed to challenge their rivals for the Glen win late in the race.
With less than two hours to go, the biggest downpour arrived, and Garcia, the No. 77 Porsche, and No. 14 Lexus were the only GTD PRO cars to make it into the pitlane for rain tires before the pits closed for the sixth time. Officials eventually red-flagged the race, after 25 minutes behind the safety car with standing water on the track.
When the race resumed with 35 minutes left, the three leading cars in class were forced to pit for slick tires. This left the window open for Milner to assume the lead, and he drove an impressive final stint to keep the No. 4 Z06 GT3.R out front before he met his demise with the last-lap fuel stop.

Comments Directly From The Drivers:

Antonio Garcia, No. 3 Z06 GT3.R–P3 in GTD PRO

“I’m happy with this. Considering we were on the front row the last two races and didn’t convert, it feels like today we got one back. It was an amazing job by Corvette Racing and Pratt Miller guys to change the brakes. They had the skills to almost keep us on the lead lap. Yes we lost some track position but after that, the car was good and every single strategy call was the right one. I had one of the scariest half-stints in my life when a whole set of our tear-offs on the windscreen came off and then came back on. So I had a triangle in front of me and I couldn’t see to my left. Somehow I made up several positions on the restart, but it was very scary to just keep the car on track. I just couldn’t see anything. Fortunately we got it fixed after the yellow, and it was made better when we were on the same strategy as the Porsche and Lexus to go on wet tires. It was the right call and it would have been nice to run four or five laps in the rain but we couldn’t take advantage of that. It’s also a shame for the No. 4 guys. With all the flag sequences, I think they deserved it. But it’s nice that we were able to get the first podium for Alex and me, and for the Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports team. Now we need to keep the momentum. We know we are fast; we just need to convert and hopefully a win is around the corner.”

Alexander Sims, No. 3 Z06 GT3.R–P3 in GTD PRO

“To be honest with the weather forecast coming into this weekend, it kind of exactly panned out how we expected with a mayhem-filled race. We started up front and had a nice comfortable stint before we had to change the front brakes. The guys did an amazing job to change everything, and we almost got out without falling off the lead lap, which was pretty impressive. So our race went south for a little while but as with IMSA you’re able to get back in the race and we did. The guys made some great calls and the car was fast. It’s great to get a podium; it felt like we came back into contention where we should have been. It’s cool to get our first podium with the No. 3 Corvette. Antonio did a brilliant job in the end to almost get second. It was really tight out there, and I enjoyed it.”

Tommy Milner, No. 4 Z06 GT3.R–P6 in GTD PRO

“Nicky was right in that it was a bit of a lottery race for a lot of people with tire calls and things like that. We did well with the tire choice except for when we snuck in just before a yellow to put wets on. I agreed with Tyler (Neff, No. 4 race engineer) that it seemed like the right call at the time because Turn One was undriveable. At the end, we had to take them back off because the track was drying too quickly. But we also got stuck from getting into the pitlane before the red flag, I was happy that it came. But at the end of the day, the result is what matters. And seventh place is not where we want to be. We did some things really well today and some things not so well. We’ll analyze those things that didn’t and be better for the next time when we go to Canada and try again.”

Nicky Catsburg, No. 4 Z06 GT3.R–P6 in GTD PRO

“First off, Tommy did an amazing job late in the race in holding off the Aston Martin. I knew he had it and we were hoping the fuel would work out, but then that got snatched away. It’s tough. This style of racing makes some of these races a lottery. At the start I didn’t think we would be in a position to go for a win because our car was great everywhere except on a straight line. So that was a frustration. The car felt good toward the end of the stint, so we could get around some people. It was good on a long run and we saw that at the end with Tommy’s drive. It’s a tough way to end though. Hopefully we can be on the right end of it the next time out.”

Orey Fidani, No. 13 Z06 GT3.R–P11 in GTD

“I’m pleased with our result. It was a tricky race as we were lacking a little bit of speed this weekend, but I’m happy with how my stint went. The team has been working so hard all year long, and today they really delivered for us with strategy calls in what were very challenging weather conditions. They kept us in the fight, and Lars and Matt drove a great race as always.”

Lars Kern, No. 13 Z06 GT3.R–P11 in GTD

“I’m happy with the result we were able to achieve today. When looking at our outright pace, we were just a bit off the mark throughout the whole weekend, and we are actively working on figuring out the reason behind it. We executed well in the race, the team made no mistakes and were perfect as always. We as drivers kept it clean and were able to make up ground, I think we maximized our performance today.”

What’s Next For IMSA?

Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports, AWA, and their three Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs will be back for the battles at the Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on Sunday, July 14.

CorvSport Celebrates Corvette Racing’s Recent Milestones

Nicky Catsburg grabs first pole position in the No. 4 Z06 GT3.R at Raceway Laguna Seca,
The No. 4 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Racing climbed the GTD PRO podium for the first time this season as Nicky Catsburg and Tommy Milner finished third at Raceway Laguna Seca (read Scott Kolecki’s full Raceway Laguna Seca feature here),
At Laguna Seca, for the first time, all three Z06 GT3.Rs finished the race,
DXDT Racing secures the first race victory for the Z06 GT3.R as Corvette factory driver Tommy Milner and Alec Udell won the first 90-minute race of GT World Challenge America’s event at Circuit of The Americas on May 18th,
The No. 3 of Garcia and Sims score the season’s second podium finish for the Z06 GT3.R with a third-place result at the Six Hours of The Glen.

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